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Integrating a Six-Month Contact Point for Vitamin A Supplementation, Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling and Family Planning within Routine Health Services in Sierra Leone.
Article in English | IMSEAR | ID: sea-164573
ABSTRACT

Objectives:

Since 2004, twice-yearly mass vitamin A supplementation (VAS) has reached >85% of children 6-59 months. Although VAS coverage is consistently high, an additional 2.4% reduction in infant mortality could be achieved if all children receive VAS as soon as they turn six months. Therefore, the effectiveness of integrating a six-month contact point with VAS into the routine EPI schedule was examined.

Methods:

Twelve health units matched according to staff levels, cadre and work load were assigned to provide either a ‘full package’ of 1)VAS, 2)Infant and Young Child Feeding counselling (IYCF), and 3)family planning (FP) counselling and commodities; a ‘mini package’ of 1)VAS and 2)IYCF or control’ with routine health services. 400 infants were enrolled into each group between birth and 3 weeks of age and followed until they were 12 months old. Caregivers of all enrolled children received modified child health cards with a six-month contact point

Results:

More children in the full (74.5%) and mini (71.7%) groups received VAS at six months compared with the control group (60.2%)(p<0.05). At 9 and 12 months of age, mean WAZ was significantly higher for the full (0.24±0.98; 0.90±0.81), versus the mini (-0.05±1.05; 0.26±0.93) and control groups (-0.55±1.24; 0.39±1.41)(p<0.0001, p<0.01), respectively. FP commodities were provided to 67.3% of mothers in the full group compared with 3.0% in the mini and control groups (p<0.0001).

Conclusions:

A six-month contact point integrated into the EPI schedule increased VAS coverage and provision of family planning commodities at six months and was associated with improved growth in late infancy.
Full text: Available Index: IMSEAR (South-East Asia) Language: English Year: 2015 Type: Article

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Full text: Available Index: IMSEAR (South-East Asia) Language: English Year: 2015 Type: Article